Part collector and mechanism therefor

ABSTRACT

The disclosure herein is of a part collector for punch presses or the like, in which metal is formed and the parts produced thereby are desirably withdrawn from the area of forming so that subsequent parts may be formed therein, without the use of hands by the operator, and specifically by providing part receiving means which move into the area between the part forming means and outwardly therefrom so that it will not interfere with the operation of such means, and yet be in position when the parts are completed to accept the same and carry them away, the foregoing being accomplished by the provision of a suitable chute which is reciprocated inwardly and outwardly from the part forming area by means of connections which are operated in unison or timed relation to the movement of the press forming parts, such movement being adjustable both rotationally and longitudinally to accomodate various sizes of dies and parts formed thereby.

United States Patent [191 Pax et al.

[ Sept. 4, 1973 PART COLLECTOR AND MECHANISM THEREFOR [75] Inventors: Francis ,1. Pax; John C. Pax, both of Celina, Ohio [73] Assignee: Pax Machine Works, Inc., Celina,

Ohio

[22] Filed: Dec. 27, 1971 [21] Appl. No: 212,148

Roselius... 83/82 X Wallis 83/157 X Primary Examiner-J. M. Meister Attorney-Frank B. Robb 57 ABSTRACT The disclosure herein is of a part collector for punch presses or the like, in which metal is formed and the parts produced thereby are desirably withdrawn from the area of forming so that subsequent parts may be formed therein, without the use of hands by the operator, and specifically by providing part receiving means which move into the area between the part forming means and outwardly therefrom so that it will not interfere with the operation of such means, and yet be in position when the parts are completed to accept the same and carry them away, the foregoing being accomplished by the provision of a suitable chute which is reciprocated inwardly and outwardly from the part forming area by means of connections which are operated in unison or timed relation to the movement of the press forming parts, such movement being adjustable both rotationally and longitudinally to accomodate various sizes of dies and parts formed thereby.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Patented Sept. 4, 1973 3,756,107

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l'llll ill, 4

I H Milli lhl l Wee- AT' TURNS Y5 PART COLLECTOR AND MECHANISM THEREFOR OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention to provide means to direct parts formed in die stamping or the like, without the necessity for the operator to move his hands into the area of part formation, the receiving means being arranged so that it will move inwardly and outwardly in time relation to the movement of the parts which comprise the forming means of the press.

A further object of the invention is to provide means adapted to be attached to a punch press or the like mechanism, wherein dies are availed of which form parts by stamping metal between die sections, wherein the part receiver is reciprocated inwardly and outwardly into the area of part formation between the dies, outwardly so as to avoid being struck by the dies as they are stripped from the die by means usually provided therefore.

A further object of the invention is to provide a form of part collector mechanism comprising a main support which is adjustable with respect to the main frame of a press, and suitably carried thereby, the support including a guide unit therein and a carrier reciprocable in the guide unit, and in turn connected to a receiver of chute-like formation, so that as the parts drop into the same, they are directed outwardly from the area of part formation, the reciprocation being effected by suitable crank means which are connected to the carriage whereby the stroke of the carriage may be varied, the crank in turn being moved in timed relation to the movement of the press forming parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide means to move the part receiver mounted on a carriage, in timed relation to the movement of the press parts by which the parts stamped thereby are formed, so that positive movement is accomplished and the likelihood of damage to the dies or to the mechanism for carrying off the parts is obviated thereby.

Other and further objects of the invention will be understood from a consideration of the specification appended hereto and disclosed in the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view, largely fragmentary in nature, to disclose various elements of a punch press and specifically the part collector mechanism mounted thereon, and means for operating the same.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view partly fragmentary, showing the part collector in position and in relation to portions of the press which form the parts.

FIG. 3 is a side view, partly fragmentary to illustrate in greater detail the construction of the main support for the collector mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a framentary view taken about on the line 4--4 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in plan showing the carriage mounted on the guide means therefore.

FIG. 6 is an end view of the carriage of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. 1, certain fragmentary elements ofa punch press are illustrated as comprising the upright main frame members 1 and 2, with the space therebetween being equipped with a main bed or bedframe member 3, which is adapted to support the lower die 4 thereon, ofa die set including an upper die memher 5 suitably fastened to a ram 6 which for the purposes hereof includes a connecting rod 7.

The connecting rod 7 in usual press construction is operated by a crankshaft shown partly at 8, the crankshaft being mounted in the upper ends of the main frame members 1 and 2 and supported therein for rotation by a motor such as 9, connected to the crankshaft 8.

The collector mechanism which is the subject of this invention, is provided with a main support 10 mounted on a suitable offstanding extension 11 from the bedframe 3, and includes the guide unit generally designated 12 which as suggested in FIG. 1 includes the spaced side members 13 and the end members 15 and 16, these members 15 and 16 in turn supporting a pair of guide rods 17 therebetween the ends of the rods being received in suitable openings formed in the end members 15 and 16 caps such as 15a and 16a being provided to maintain the rods in their guide position.

One of the side members 13 of the main support 12 is provided with a slot 18 therein, through which extends a shaft member 19 of a carriage 20, mounted on the guide rods 17.

The carriage 20 as noted in FIGS. 5 and 6 is generally rectangular in plan and includes bearing sections 21 therein, in which suitable anti-friction bearings 22 are mounted, and they in turn operate on the guide rods 17 so that the carriage 20 will move smoothly back and forth thereon.

The main support 12 now being described is additionally provided with a pair of segmental mounting portions 23, one at each side of the structure, and provided with slots 24 therein, which slots are in turn engaged by positioning members 25, at each side of the segments 23, as seen in FIG. 4, which members 25 are maintained in engagement with the slots by means of suitable bolts 26.

It will be apparent that by adjustment of the bolts 26, the main support 12 may be moved around the axis of the slots 24 so that swinging of the main frame may be accomplished to' position the same in various attitudes as will be required by the types of dies used and the parts formed as will be understood hereinafter.

In order to drive the carriage 20 back and forth in the main support 12, a connecting rod 27 is provided, comprising a pair of rod ends 28 connected together by a threaded member 29 so that the position of the rod ends may be adjusted as necessary.

One end of the connecting rod 27, and specifically one of the rod ends 28, engages the shaft 19 extending through the slot 18 from the carriage 20, a lock ring being availed of to maintain the rod end 28 in position on the shaft 19.

On the other end of the connecting rod 27, other rod end 28 engages-a crank as seen in FIG. 2 and denoted 30, the crank having an offstanding element 31 and a shaft portion 32 mounted in suitable pillow blocks 33 so that upon rotation of the shaft 32, the crank will impart reciprocating action to the connecting rod 27 and the carriage 20 connected therewith.

In order to drive the crank 30, and specifically the shaft 32 thereof, a sprocket 34 is mounted on the shaft, and includes a clutch mechanism 35 connected thereto.

Thus, driving the sprocket 34 through the clutch 35 will cause the carriage 20 to move in the manner heretofore suggested, the movement in turn of the sprocket 34 being effected by a chain 36 engaging a smaller sprocket 37 mounted on a counter shaft 38, which counter shaft is similarly mounted as the shaft 32 in pillow blocks such as 39.

The shaft 38 is connected with a sprocket 40 of the same size which is operated by a chain 41, mounted on a sprocket of the same size as the sprocket 34, at the end of the crankshaft 8 previously mentioned, a 1:1 drive ratio thereby resulting as between the crankshaft 8 and shaft 32.

It will therefore be apparent that rotation of the crankshaft 8 will in turn impart rotation to the crank 30 and thereby reciprocation of the carriage 20, in timed relation to the movement of the crankshaft 8.

Suitably mounted on the carriage 20 is a receiver 42 of chute-like formation suggested in FIG. 4 as including the upright sides 43 thereon, the receiver 42 being of suitable length so that when the carriage 20 is in its fuily extended or inward movement position, the receiver 42 will be in the solid line position shown in FIG. 2.

Since the die parts 4 and are intended to come together in the usual manner of operation of punch presses, to form the parts by engaging the metal placed therebetween, it will be necessary of course that the receiver 42 be withdrawn from the position shown in FIG. 2 and this is effected by operation of the crank 30 and connecting rod 27 connected to the carriage 20 by means of the shaft 19.

Necessarily the mechanism will be timed so that the receiver 42 is withdrawn as the die member 5 descends for engagement with the metal between it and the die member 4.

Similarly as the die member 5 is raised or retracted, the receiver 42 will move into the position in full lines of FIG. 2, to receive the parts which are stripped from the die 5 in the usual manner not shown in detail be well known in the art, the parts dropping into the chute-like member and being carried off thereby, in

timed relation as will be understood.

Since this mechanism is primarily designed for use with continuous die operation, it will be seen that the parts are removed when they are stripped from the die 5 and completely carried off so that they do not interfere with subsequent forming movement of the die parts.

We claim:

1. In a part collector of the class described, in com bination, part forming means having separable die members moveable in a path toward and from one another to form parts therebetween, a frame in said means, and collector mechanism comprising a main support connected to the frame, a guide unit carried thereby, said guide unit comprising spaced side members and guide rods supported therebetween, a carriage mounted on the guide rods for reciprocation, a receiver connected to said carriage, a shaft extending from the carriage, a connecting rod engaging the shaft at one end, a crank having a shaft carried on the main support for rotation, the crank being likewise connected to the connecting rod, clutch and drive means for the shaft of the crank, and chain and sprocket means operable by the part forming means to drive said crank in timed relation with the movement of the die members, whereby to move the receiver into and out of position to receive parts formed by the die members.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiver is an elongated chute, and means are provided to adjust the angular dispostion thereof.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the means to adjust the angular disposition of the receiver comprise segmental mounting portions connected to the side members engaging positioning members, and means to maintain the said members in various positions of rotation with respect to one another.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting rod is adjustable as to length. 

1. In a part collector of the class described, in combination, part forming means having separable die members moveable in a path toward and from one another to form parts therebetween, a frame in said means, and collector mechanism comprising a main support connected to the frame, a guide unit carried thereby, said guide unit comprising spaced side members and guide rods supported therebetween, a carriage mounted on the guide rods for reciprocation, a receiver connected to said carriage, a shaft extending from the carriage, a connecting rod engaging the shaft at one end, a crank having a shaft carried on the main support for rotation, the crank being likewise connected to the connecting rod, clutch and drive means for the shaft of the crank, and chain and sprocket means operable by the part forming means to drive said crank in timed relation with the movement of the die members, whereby to move the receiver into and out of position to receive parts formed by the die members.
 2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiver is an elongated chute, and means are provided to adjust the angular dispostion thereof.
 3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the means to adjust the angular disposition of the receiver comprise segmental mounting portions connected to the side members engaging positioning members, and means to maintain the said members in various positions of rotation with respect to one another.
 4. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting rod is adjustable as to length. 